


In Pieces

by swiftishere



Series: MSA One-Shots [22]
Category: Mystery Skulls Animated
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Memory Loss, Cuddling & Snuggling, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Mind Control, Platonic Cuddling, Why Did Vivi Respond to Ghost Mansion by Making Sandwiches? The Answer Might Surprise You!, also the mind control is really more subtle manipulation, gonna b real with you this is almost entirely just vivi and arthur hugging and being upset, takes place immediately after Ghost
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:47:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27570055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swiftishere/pseuds/swiftishere
Summary: They've only just narrowly escaped from that death-trap mansion, when Vivi's mind starts to swirl and her head to pound, the aftermath of something awful catching up with her.
Relationships: Arthur & Vivi (Mystery Skulls Animated)
Series: MSA One-Shots [22]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1440190
Comments: 5
Kudos: 54





	In Pieces

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by a conversation with @eagefrien about lewis being able to manipulate vivi after wiping her memory

The van vibrates as Arthur speeds away from the mansion, his sturdy prosthetic on the wheel the only thing keeping the car even remotely steady. Vivi blinks and sways in the passenger seat for a little while, and then unbuckles her seatbelt.

Arthur glances over at her immediately. "E- e- everything alright, Vi?"

She hisses, pulling at her hair. "Yeah, I'm sorry, I know you're probably freaked out but- I need to lie down. Headache." There's no pain yet, but a pressure is starting to pound in her skull, muting the sounds of the world in her ears, and she knows all too well what it's signalling.

"O-okay. Do you need me to pull over-?"

"It's not that bad," _yet_ , "I just wanna... lay down and close my eyes for a minute. You'll be okay, right?"

"Yeah, of- of c-course. Take a breather, that s-s-sucked for- for everyone."

She nods vaguely at him, and then collapses into her sleeping bag.

It isn't the rocking of the van, but the lack of it, that startles her awake not much later. She knows it hasn't been long enough, because that pressure is still between her eyes and there's a lingering dull pain behind it, but she's definitely slept through the worst of it. And it's still dark outside, and there's no lights on in the van, which is a blessing.

Reluctantly she pulls herself upright and lets her eyes drift around, to first see an unperturbed Mystery still snoozing away, and then Arthur curled up in the driver's seat, head in his knees.

"Everything okay?" she calls softly, voice still heavy with sleep.

He jumps, head snapping up, and oh, he's definitely been crying. For a brief moment his shoulders heave with too-quick breaths, arms folding protectively around himself- and then he processes that it's her who spoke, and starts to relax. "Y-yeah- s-sorry, I just had to... st-stop for a minute. Couldn't f-focus on the road."

"Wanna come back here and talk about it?" She pats the air mattress next to her.

But he shakes his head, swallowing hard. "No- it's f-fine, I really just... needed a minute."

A lot of muddled thoughts are pushing things at her, but most of them have to do with things like _no, get over here_ , or _liar what would- the- someone- say?_ She gives him a fake-stern frown. "It's either that or I come up there, and if you make me do that I'll _definitely_ hit the horn by accident, and then _both_ of us will regret it. Get back here and talk to me."

He sighs and pulls himself over the seat, one arm still shaking, and comes to sit next to her.

But even that isn't good enough, a tugging in her core begs her to get _as close to him as possible_ , and she pulls him into a sideways hug until they're sitting half-facing each other and half side-by-side, legs intertwined.

"Okay," she says once she's satisfied that they're enough of a pile of limbs, "so what's bugging ya? Is it really just the whole _getting chased_ thing?"

"I- I mean, it's really not much more deep th-than th-that. I was just..." he shakes his head, wiping his eyes. "Why did you _do_ that?"

It takes her a minute to figure out what he's asking, and then she remembers the ghost, and jumping in front of it. "I... I couldn't let it get you." 

"You don't- but- I don't want you getting hurt ins- instead of me. And you almost _did_ , and..."

"I already let you get hurt once," she tells him, really just recounting her thought process. "And it was the worst thing I've ever done. I... couldn't do it a second time. It wasn't like it was a choice- I just saw it headed for you and I _jumped_ , because if it hit you..."

He shakes his head again. And then pulls her into a proper hug, warm skin and metal twining around her back. She returns it without thinking. He's silent for a while, and Vivi's fine with that. They both just hold each other tight and desperate, full of fear and bad memories.

Arthur's shoulders start to shake after a while. It takes a few more seconds for her to realize he's not crying. He's laughing, trying and quickly failing to suppress a giggle.

"What's going on?" She pulls back a little to look at him. "Did something funny happen behind me?"

"You made a _sandwich_ ," is his choked response. "You know how worried I was when that ghost st-st-started ch-chasing me? _Oh no_ , I was th-thinking, _what if it caught her too? What if she got her head ch-chopped off by one of the armors? Or- or th-the little ghosts ate her!_ And th-then I run out into the kitchen and- and you're making s- _sandwiches!"_

The memory, previously almost forgotten, comes back to her in a flash. She can't match Arthur's hysterical laughter. A sense of shame, disappointment, _horror_ creeps in, and she bites her lip. "Oh my _god-"_

"I love you s-s- _so much_. He ran f-f- _full tilt_ into those th-things! Fucking _covered_ in toppings! I-" He dissolves into laughter again.

"I wasn't- I wasn't in control of myself," she says, sharing the realization with him.

That abruptly cuts off the laughing, and he leans back to look at her again, now much more concerned and serious. "What?"

"I mean- it was like a huge part of my brain just got... _turned off_. I couldn't think about where we were, what was going on, about _you_... all I could think of was... making myself some food." She inhales deeply, vision blurring, her head starting to pound again. "And it was like- I knew where _everything_ was. Something else _told_ me. It's stupid but-" She unlatches herself from Arthur to run her hands through her hair, pulling a little too tight to try and ground herself. "I- I just stopped _working_ and there was something _else_ giving me _orders_ and-"

He grabs her hands and pulls them to his chest, forcing her to look back at him, and fixes her with an intense, serious stare. "Hey. Vi, look at me. You're okay, alright? You're f-fine. Whatever happened, it's _gone_ now. You're here, and th-this is _all_ of you, and nothing is broken, and none of you is missing, and nothing is messing with you. I _promise_."

She blinks at him for a moment, tears clouding her vision, and then finally gives in and collapses into his chest, sobbing.

"I _hate_ this," she chokes out. "I _hate_ not knowing anything, not knowing if I'm missing anything or- or just _forgetting_ , and blacking out and- I _hate it!"_

"I know. It s-sucks. But I've got you, okay? I'm here- here to help. 'm not gonna let you do any of th-this alone."

She shifts a little deeper into his arms, sighing. "I know. I- thanks. I'm glad I have you."

There's a long moment of peaceful silence, as the two hold each other and Vivi waits for the last of the headache to pass. She's almost drifting off to sleep when a lone thought flits through her mind, making her blink.

"It stopped for me. Why, d'ya think...?"

She feels Arthur shake his head. "No fuckin' clue. M-maybe..." he trails off, already quiet voice dissolving.

"Maybe?"

"Th-the way it... pointed at me. When I found it. _Glared_. It... it hated... _me_. Not j-j-just as, like, a trespasser- I don't th-think... it was, like, more than th-that. S-so maybe... it _just_ wanted me... an- and didn't want to hurt you...?"

The thought brings a sick, uneasy feeling to her stomach, and she holds him a little tighter. "I... that's probably not it. I mean, we have no prior connection to that place, so..."

"I'unno. Maybe I'm wrong."

"No..." conflicted impulses rise to the surface. It sounds _right_ , what Arthur's saying, but she doesn't _want_ it to be right, and it doesn't make _sense_ , and that ghost... he wouldn't hurt her, all her instincts say. But at the same time, he'd looked at Arthur like the only thing he cared about was ripping him to shreds. "Let's just... stay away from that thing. And we won't have to worry about it."

"F-f-fine by me."

After a few minutes, she realizes they're not going to get back on the road anytime soon. Arthur probably _would_ pull himself away and back to driving if she asked, but right now he's clinging to her tight, and his shaking limbs say that even if he won't admit it out loud, he'd probably be loathe to go anywhere. And all of her is heavy with the deep exhaustion that always comes with the aftermath of one of those headaches, and she doesn't want to lose her space heater either.

She wonders briefly if he's as hot as she is cold, if her freezing skin is any comfort to him too. He _feels_ warm, but then he always does to her. But it's also not such a stretch to imagine that with the aftermath of the running and what was probably a panic attack before she woke up, he's even warmer than usual.

That would be a weird thing to ask about, right? Probably.

Instead she sets that speculation aside, and reluctantly releases him from her grasp. He stirs with a hum, but doesn't protest, probably already half-asleep himself. With him in the way, she can only barely reach the store of blankets, but just manages to snag one of the softer ones they have, and drapes it over the both of them. It's a bit of a struggle with Arthur still wrapped around her, and it ends up pretty haphazard, but they're both mostly covered and her arms are starting to ache with effort by the time she's done, so she judges it good enough.

_Finally_ she gets to go back to burrowing into his chest, head resting against his shoulder. The last thing she does is cast a brief glance towards Mystery, to confirm he's still standing watch for them. A part of her wants to call him over to join them, some buried longing in her heart crying that there's still someone _missing_ , but she can't. She could never do that to Arthur, and she wants him to keep a lookout, _just in case_ that ghost isn't as gone as they thought.

So she sighs, contenting herself with this, and slips down slightly into a more comfortable position, and drifts off to a blissfully undisturbed sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> also fun fact this was originally going to be a followup to Getting to You but i couldnt get it to make sense so it got scrapped and repurposed into another oneshot


End file.
